


Two Coffees and a Bluberry Scone

by confundedgryffindor



Series: Chicken Man [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Angst I guess, Bodybuilder Remus, Depression, First Dates, M/M, Snuffles the dog, Tesco, and he's still depressed, sirius still works at tesco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-14 14:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18950077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confundedgryffindor/pseuds/confundedgryffindor
Summary: Lily made a gleeful sound as she stirred around in the pot of tomato sauce.“You’re going on a date with chicken man,” she repeated again.“Yes, Lily, I’m going on a date,”“This is great!” she exclaimed, turning around again. “You’ll get out of the flat and socialize a person who’s not me, James or your dog. You get to have an actual conversation with an actual person!”-Sirius and Remus go on their first date





	Two Coffees and a Bluberry Scone

**Author's Note:**

> WOOP chicken man part 2!! weowww this took way longer than expected, but,, depression hit. 
> 
> anywhoodels, it's here!!
> 
> beta read by [ rosielupin ](https://rosielupin.tumblr.com/)

**chicken man, (19:34):** Hey, it’s Remus. I really liked talking to you earlier, instead of awkward Tesco small talk lol

**Sirius, (19:35):** yes indeed, this time it was awkward “inside a gym” small talk instead

**chicken man, (19:35):** Lmao true

**Sirius, (19:36):** i’m horrendously bad at this whole conversation thing because i have 4 friends, one of which is a dog and and one of which is a child, but do you perhaps want to meet up for a coffee some day?

**chicken man, (19:37):** I only know how to talk to people when I yell at them to run faster on the treadmill so I get you. And yeah, I’d love to meet for a coffee. Friday afternoon work for you?

**Sirius, (19:37):** sounds great, text me time and place and i’ll be there :-)   
  


Sirius smiled down at his screen, his heart beating wildly in his chest. 

He was sitting on his bed, the curtains were drawn and the only light in the room came from his laptop, which had been playing The Great British Bake Off since he got home from work. He was wearing the largest hoodie he owned (a triple-XL, he was practically drowning in fabric) and pyjama bottoms, and his free hand was resting in Snuffles’ fur.

He’d tried to keep Snuffles off the bed, but every time Sirius told him to get down, Snuffles began whining dramatically until Sirius let him hop back up again. So he’d given up and simply slept in a bed full of fur.

Despite the setting in his room, and despite the fact that he’d dealt with not only one, but two shoplifters at work, Sirius felt  _ happy.  _

“Oi, Snuffles,” Sirius said, his voice more high pitched and excited than usual. (Because he used a different voice when he talked to animals, he wasn’t a complete weirdo.) Snuffles perked up, watching Sirius with something that could’ve been a smile if he was human. “Wanna go on a walk?”

Snuffles sat up and let his head fall to the side, wagging his tail. “Yeah? You wanna go on a walk?”

Snuffles let out a small bark and jumped off the bed, then pretty much scrambled to the front door, his claws clicking against the wooden floor. Sirius laughed and grabbed his phone before following his dog to the front door.

Sirius unlocked his phone again and stared at the few messages he exchanged with Remus.    
  


**Sirius, (19:46):** idk if you care but i’m about to go on a walk with my dog and he’s just been staring stupidly between me, his lead and the door since i got in the hallway 

**Sirius, (19:46):** like calm down snuffles let me get my jacket and shoes before we go on the chilling adventure of walking around the block   
  


Sirius bit his lip and shut his phone again, then slipped it into his hoodie pocket. He put his jacket on and tried his best to put the lead on Snuffles at the same time as he put his shoes on. 

Sirius smiled again as he stepped out in the cold air, he was excited and he was  _ happy _ .

 

***

 

Sirius felt like shit. 

He’d woken up, gone on a walk with Snuffles and had half a cup of tea, and on a good day, that would wake him and make him feel good enough for a day at work. 

Not today though.

The universe had let him feel happy for a total of two hours last night, and then everything seemed to just come crashing down again. And now he was sitting on the floor in his kitchen, his back resting against the cupboard, his glasses laying somewhere beside him, face buried in his hand as he just  _ sobbed.  _ He didn’t even know why he was crying. But there he was, ugly sobbing into his hands as Snuffles nudged his nose against him in some doglike attempt to comfort him.

Sirius tried to push the dog away, he wanted to be alone. Snuffles whined and tried to nudge him again, but Sirius snapped his fingers, pointing in the general direction of the sofa.

“G-go lie down,” his voice was weak, but Snuffles listened nonetheless. 

Sirius scrubbed his hands over his face, smearing out the tears. He sniffled a couple of times and fished in his pockets for his phone. He squinted at the screen, looking for his manager’s number as he sniffled and wiped his face. 

Sirius wiped his nose on his sleeve as he pressed the  **_Michael (Tesco)_ ** contact, then put the phone on speaker.

_ “Hello, this is Michael’s phone, Janice speaking,” _

“Hello Janice,” Sirius mumbled, his voice still hoarse from crying. “It’s uh, it’s Sirius, from work. Is Michael there?”

_ “Oh hello, Sirius! What’s going on?”  _ Janice sounded way too cheery for Sirius at the moment. He just wanted to curl back up into a ball and sleep for the rest of the day. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

“It’s nothing, really, I’m just feeling a bit under the weather,” that was a blatant lie. Sirius was fine physically, probably fine enough to run a marathon, if it wasn’t for the fact that he smoked half a pack a day. “I just wanted to let Michael know that I won’t be in today,”

_ “I’ll pass the word to him, dear,”  _ Janice said.  _ “He’s helping a new employee around the fruit section right now,” _

“Alright,” Sirius sniffled again. “Just let him know that I called, yeah?”

_ “Of course. Feel better,” _

“Yeah, bye,” Sirius clicked off the call. He braced himself against the cupboard, grabbed his glasses and hauled himself off the floor. Once he was standing, he felt like just sinking down on the ground again, but he took a deep breath and walked out to the sitting room.

Snuffles perked up when he heard Sirius, but Sirius just swallowed hard and ran his hand over his face again.

“Hey Snuffles, let’s go to bed, yeah?” Sirius let out a rattling breath as Snuffles jumped off the sofa and walked up to Sirius, nudging his hand with his nose.

Sirius bit his lip and made his way to the bedroom, he drew the curtains shut, then immediately curled up on the bed. Snuffles jumped up next to him and laid down next to Sirius, as close as he could.

Sirius huffed out a breath and closed his eyes.    
  


“What the fuck, Sirius?!” Sirius opened his eyes with a groan and saw a blur of fiery red hair. He covered his eyes with his forearm and pulled the duvet up to his nose. What the hell was Lily doing in his room?

“What?” he mumbled, muffled by the duvet. 

“I thought you were dead!” Lily practically yelled. “You didn’t come over with Snuffles and you didn’t answer any of my calls or texts!”

_ Fuck.  _ He’d forgotten to tell Lily that he was staying home.

Sirius bit his lip and swallowed hard. “Sorry,” he said weakly. 

“What are you even doing home? And why didn’t you call?” Sirius turned around so his back was facing her instead. 

“‘S nothing,”

“Are you sick?”

_ No.  _ “Yes,” 

“Bullshit,” Lily sat down next to him, but didn’t make a move to remove the duvet. “What’s going on?”

Sirius bit down harder on his lip and buried his face into his pillow. He didn’t know what was going on, everything just felt like too much and too little at the same time.

“Sirius…” he hated that tone she used. The tone laced with pity and sadness.

“Just go away,” Sirius whispered. 

Lily sighed and put her hand in his hair, rubbing his scalp. Sirius wanted to flinch away, to tell her just fuck off, but instead he leaned into the touch as he let out a rattling breath. 

“Do you want a cup of tea?” Lily asked. Sirius shook his head. “Have you eaten?” he shook his head again. Lily removed her hand and got off the bed.

“Alright, I’ll go on a walk with Snuffles and cook something up, and you can talk if you want to,”

“Alright,” Sirius whispered, but didn’t make a move to get up.

“I’ll be back,”   
  


Thirty minutes later, Sirius was sitting by the kitchen table. Snuffles was sitting on the chair next to him, and refused to move, no matter what Lily or Sirius said.

 

“Did anything happen or was everything just too shit?” Lily asked as she dumped some pasta into the boiling water on the stove.

“I don’t know,” Sirius said. “I just, I was happy, like genuinely happy, for two hours last night, and then I woke up earlier today and everything was too much and nothing at all and I,” he tugged at his hair. “I didn’t want to do anything,”

Lily hummed as she dumped a can of tomatoes in a pot. “Why were you happy? Not that you need a reason why, but you know what I mean,”

“I’m going on a date with chicken man,”

Lily spinned around, a huge grin plastered on her face. “What?”

“Yeah,” Sirius shrugged. “I asked why he ate so much chicken, he told me to meet him up at a gym, we had some awkward small talk and I got his number,”

Lily grinned even wider, “You’re going on a date with chicken man!”

Sirius let out a small chuckle and nodded, “We’re just getting coffee though,”

“Still!” Lily turned back around to the stove to make sure that the pasta water wasn’t boiling over. “What’s his actual name?”

“Remus,” Sirius smiled. A small, weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. “He’s a bodybuilder,”

Lily made a gleeful sound as she stirred around in the pot of tomato sauce.

“You’re going on a date with chicken man,” she repeated again.

“Yes, Lily, I’m going on a date,”

“This is great!” she exclaimed, turning around again. “You’ll get out of the flat and socialize a person who’s not me, James or your dog. You get to have an actual conversation with an actual person!”

“You make my life sound even more depressing than it actually is,”

Lily just grinned again, “This is fantastic. I’m so happy for you,”

 

***

 

Sirius decided to stay at home at Thursday as well, but instead of sleeping away half of the day, he did some actual, adult things. Like showering, going on walks with Snuffles, cooking, binge watching The Great British Bake Off, cleaning the kitchen and writing a short story. 

And now he was sitting behind the register at Tesco, scanning items as he practically bounced in his seat, waiting for the day to end. 

Lily had chosen an outfit for him, and she even went so far as to dogsit Snuffles until Saturday just in case Sirius  _ got lucky.  _ He highly doubted anything would happen except coffee drinking, but he’d agreed nonetheless. 

Sirius smiled as he called out total after total, asking if the person in question if they wanted receipt, over and over. He felt good. Not happy, per say, but  _ good. _

The day kept droning on, and as soon as his shift ended, Sirius was power walking to the café Remus had suggested. Queen was blasting in his ears, he had a cigarette dangling between his lips and he felt more and more excited with every step he took.

Slowly,  _ good  _ turned to  _ happy.  _

Sirius smiled to himself as he pushed the door to the café open, and was immediately hit was a strong smell of coffee and pastries. He stepped inside and scanned the café briefly before pulling out his phone.    
  


**Sirius, (16:35):** i’m at the café :)

**Remus, (16:36):** Awesome! I’ll be there in like five minutes, so feel free to order something 

**Sirius, (16:36):** do you want me to get anything for you?

**Remus, (16:37):** A vanilla latte, if you’re offering 

**Sirius, (16:38):** got it 

 

Sirius walked up to the counter and smiled at the barista. 

“Hey, a vanilla latte and a caramel macchiato, both large, please,” he said, almost surprising himself with how cheery he sounded. “Oh, and a blueberry scone, please,”

“10,95, please,” the barista smiled. Sirius pulled out his card, paid and went to the end of the counter as the barista set to making the drinks.

He chose a table close to the entrance, and had to take two rounds to get the drinks and the scone before he could sit down. Sirius bounced his leg nervously, glancing at the door every few seconds, waiting for Remus to walk in. 

He was both excited and scared shitless. Maybe Remus hadn’t realized that Sirius had meant that this was supposed to be a date, and saw it as a friendly gesture. Maybe he wouldn’t show up at all, deciding last minute that he had more important things to do than talk to Sirius.

It seemed to take forever before the door finally swung open and Remus stepped inside. Sirius smiled brightly and waved, then immediately thought that he was too enthusiastic and stared down at his macchiato instead. 

Remus walked up to the table, smiling. He pulled out the chair and sat down. 

“Hi,” 

“Hey,” Sirius pushed the latte towards him. “I got a large one because you didn’t specify what size,”

Remus smiled, “It’s great, thank you,”

“It’s no problem,” Sirius could feel a blush creeping up his neck, and he coughed awkwardly before taking a sip from his macchiato. It burned his tongue a little, but he didn’t really care. 

“So,” Remus said. Sirius broke off a piece of his scone and popped it in his mouth. “I haven’t been on a date-“ Sirius’ heart skipped a beat. “-In forever, so I don’t really know how this is supposed to go, but tell me something about yourself,”

Sirius swallowed and cleared his throat, “Uh well, what do you want to know?”

“Whatever you want to tell me, like basics,” Remus took a sip from his latte. “Like, family. What’s your family like?”

Sirius bit his lip. He considered lying, and tell Remus that he’s got a perfectly normal family who met up on family dinners every Sunday and celebrate christmas together. 

“I don’t really have one,” he said instead. “I mean I’ve got James and Lily - my best friends, but that’s about it,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Remus frowned over his cup. 

“It’s fine, they kicked me out when I was sixteen, so I suppose I’m better off without them,” Sirius inhaled sharply and shook his head, then plastered a smile on his face. “What about you?”

“I’ve got my mum and dad, they live in Wales,” Remus said. “I don’t talk a lot to my dad though, we never really had a close relationship, I guess,” 

Sirius nodded, “No siblings?”

Remus shook his head and took another sip from his latte, “I’ve always wanted a sibling, but my parents split up when I was five so no siblings for me,”

Sirius broke off another piece of his scone, “How did you get into… Working out, and stuff?”

Remus laughed, “I looked like a twig, I felt like not looking like a twig, I started working out,” 

Sirius snorted, “Sounds reasonable,”

“What about you? How did you start working at Tesco?”

“Oh, er,” Sirius fought down a grimace as he realized just how  _ depressing  _ his life actually was. “I was a broke sixteen year old living half on the street and half on my best mate’s sofa, so I started working at Tesco and then I never really left. I hate working there, I just don’t know what else I can do,”

Remus looked mildly uncomfortable for a second, then said, “What do you  _ want  _ to do?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius shrugged. “I like writing, I guess. And motorcycles, could be a writer or a mechanic,”

“Those are two very different occupations,” Remus laughed. Sirius snorted and nodded. 

“I do write a lot though,” he said, taking another sip from his macchiato. “Wouldn’t mind making money off of it,”

“You can write about motorcycles,” Remus suggested. He was smiling again, and Sirius couldn’t help but to stare. It was almost unfair how attractive Remus was. 

Sirius wasn’t even sure if it only was attraction he was feeling, but maybe jealousy too. Remus was all sharp angles and large muscles, with a constant gleam in his eyes and such a beautiful smile, and Sirius was a beanpole with an uneven stubble and tangled hair.

Sirius coughed awkwardly before taking a far too large gulp of his drink, “I like to write fantasy, though,”

“Fantasy motorcycles,” 

Sirius let out a laugh. A genuine, loud, bark like laugh, and it almost felt strange that he was laughing, because he hadn’t  _ genuinely _ laughed in so long. 

“That would certainly be interesting,”

“It would be a fun addition,” Remus said. “A flying motorcycle,”

Sirius grinned, “Maybe I’ll add it to whatever I’m writing next,”

They talked for what felt like forever, but not enough time at the same time, and Sirius had never enjoyed himself more. He was smiling and laughing, and he was actively trying to get to know Remus. He felt  _ happy,  _ so happy that he almost never wanted it to end.

 

They walked out of the café, together and stopped at the pavement, looking awkwardly at each other before Sirius had to leave for his bus.

“I really enjoyed this… Date,” Sirius said, hugging his jacket closer to his body. His teeth were chattering and he was shivering a little, but he didn’t really care.

Remus smiled. 

“Me too,” Remus said. “I mean, you could text me when you get home, and we could plan another one,”

Sirius grinned, “I’d like that,”

“I’m…” Remus bit his lip for a second. “Do you want a hug or something before you leave? You seem very cold,”

Sirius blushed, “Sure,”

Remus took a step towards him, then wrapped his arms around Sirius. Sirius hugged back, and stopped shivering a little. It was slightly awkward, but Sirius didn’t really care. 

“You’re very warm,” Sirius said sheepishly when they pulled apart, he was still blushing a little. Remus flushed. 

“Like a human radiator, I’ve been told,” 

Sirius grinned, “I need to catch my bus, but I’ll text you later,”

“Of course,” Remus smiled and buried his hands in his coat pockets. “Good luck and don’t die on your way home,”

Sirius slumped down in a free seat on the bus, still grinning like a maniac as his heart raced in his chest. He was still shivering a little, but he still felt warm inside.

He was  _ happy. _

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you enjoyed!
> 
> my [ tumblr ](https://confunded-gryffindor.tumblr.com/)


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